About Dartlog

Dartlog is a weblog run by The Dartmouth Review. The site is updated daily with the latest in news about Dartmouth College, Dartmouth students, Dartmouth faculty, and Dartmouth alumni. In other words, "Everything Dartmouth, Every Day."

Contributors are all Dartmouth Review staff, editors, or alumni. Any TDR alumnus/ae wishing to become a contributor should email us at dartlog@dartreview.com. Students wishing the same should join The Dartmouth Review staff by contacting the editor at editor@dartreview.com.

Responses to posts, tips, comments, and queries may be sent as well to dartlog@dartreview.com. If your message is not for publication, please say so prominently.

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Thursday, October 31, 2002

I was perusing the latest issue of the Daily D, which I often do for comic relief (after I've read the NRO and the Review Online), and almost choked on my morning coffee. Dartmouth College now has a Dean of Pluralism. I am convinced that my calendar is incorrect and this is the April Fool's issue. Or possibly they now run an April Fools-style spoof issue on Halloween as well? Should the alumni vote to become a satellite branch of Brown? Diversitymouth College is rapidly becoming a joke. How can people possibly take our school seriously. Do we?

Either way, now that I live in Houston, I'm considering telling people that I went to Texas A&M (home of the George Bush Presidential library).

Read about Mr. Woon and his new position here. If there's any justice, Mr. Woon will soon be exploring the plurality of employment-status as one of thirty.

Also read about "diversity seats" in Amherst's student senate. Oddly, one was to have been allotted to a conservative (how's that for a minority group?), until recently.

Many students feel it would be helpful for [University Health Services] to have vibrators available because Cornell is located in Ithaca, not a major city.

"At this point, you either go online or go downtown to the sort of scary and not very woman-affirming place sex-shop downtown," Frazer ['03] said.
...
"I think one of the most important things is for women to be able to get themselves off. It's better than going to the sketchy shop downtown where they have to check the batteries for you," Sara Jacobs '05 said.

Gov. Jesse Ventura was offended by the tone of the memorial last night for Senator Wellstone, and will likely appoint an Independent to fill the seat until January. Ventura was set to appoint a Democrat until last night's memorial turned political rally, one that included the booing of Trent Lott, and chants of "We Will Win."

I noticed that Barbra (note spelling of her name, Rollo!) -- or "Baghdad Babs" -- has endorsed Paul Wellstone. Is this some sort of sick joke? Or is it a slap in the face for Mondale? Why would she endorse a dead man and not a live one? Perhaps there's dissent among the ranks? Perhaps she figures that, if Mondale can come back from the dead, so can Wellstone. Hmmm...

In a mind-boggling act of vandalism, the posterboard memorial to 14 Israelis killed in a car bomb explosion displayed during a Yale Friends of Israel vigil Tuesday night was torn and scattered across the lawn early the next morning.

This is not a sign that dissent has devolved to graffiti on campus -- that was last week's defamation of an anti-divestment petition in the Law School. This is not a political objection to the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians gone awry -- that was the removal of most of the signs advertising former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's visit two weeks ago.

Deadria Farmer-Paellmann is descended from South Carolina rice slaves and now plans to make US companies pay. She is targeting "every US company that profited from slavery." Currently there are 10 lawsuits looking for reparations and she's coordinated 9 of them.The lawsuit is seeking billions of dollars. She even claims that she "went to law school just to make a case for reparations." She also has 60 potential targets for her lawsuits. She says her father is bitter that his family never received 40 acres and a mule, as the William T. Sherman promised. How does 40 acres and a mule equal billions? Not to mention that if she wins these suits, she'll be no different from these companies, since she too will be profiting for slavery.

Sunday, October 27, 2002

Transgendered students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, unable to persuade administrators in the past year to create coed bathrooms, are shifting their strategy from private talks with school officials to a petition drive and mass mobilization.

The Restroom Revolution group, as students are calling themselves, will meet Wednesday to gauge student response to its campaign to create coed bathrooms, which they say are needed to help transgendered students - who exhibit the appearance and behavioral characteristics of the opposite sex - feel safe from ridicule and physical harm.

Saturday, October 26, 2002

Ben Flickinger sends this in:The rest of the Ivy League had better watch out. Dartmouth has equaled its win total for the last 2 years combined in just the last 3 games. By defeating Columbia 24-23 in New York City today, Dartmouth, 3-3 (2-1) on the year, carries a 3-game winning str
eak into Homecoming against Harvard. A win against the 4-2 (3-0) Crimson would put Dartmouth into a tie for 2nd place in the League.

The 5-1 Penn Quakers, also unbeaten in conference play at 3-0, continue to be the team to beat in the Ivies after destroying Yale in New Haven today.
The AP covers Dartmouth's Columbia win.

Don't know if any of you already knew this, but I ran across this at work and thought it somewhat funny. Apparently, the Village Voice was purchased in January 2000 by a private equity shop in an LBO. In other words, it sold out to the Man.

Friday, October 25, 2002

Given the news of the day, this has gotten buried, but it is worth noting as a victory for academic integrity.

Here is the announcement, here (in PDF) is the rather damning independent committee report that prompted his the resignation, and here is a brief summary of the report.

The committee found Bellesiles to be "guilty of unprofessional and misleading work" for statistical research that was published in his book The Arming of America, in which he argued against early-American gun-ownership and, by extension, traditional interpretations of the Second Amendment.

Why can't the Review distribute issues on campus the way the D does? I'm sure everyone who reads the Review would continue to, even if they had to pick it up for themselves from various locations on campus, rather than picking it up from outside their door. Who likes delivering door to door anyway? I mean, it is exhausting climbing stairs all over campus and it can be annoying to have to deal with personal confrontations.

What exactly can Redman do to you if you continue to distribute the issues in dorms? He can't prevent you from getting in dorms, so I wouldn't even give him the time of day. In other words, fuck him. He has, on most every issue concerning housing and Greek life over the past few years, talked out of both sides of his mouth and repeatedly been less than honest with students. What was the justification behind banning publications? What possible harm comes from having publications delivered (Uncommon Threads, notwithstanding).

I am gonna miss the guy. The Senate's Web site is down, presumably because of the tragedy. His "The Conscience of a Liberal:Reclaiming the Compassionate Agenda" is a good read. An idealist, a liberal, but not an America hater. Very consistent and honest.

For those of you in Hanover who haven't yet begun your weekend
raging, headover to Collis for the "Why War? Think About It"
protest. They're raisingpoints on which their Democratic
congressmen have already conceded. I have noclue they plan on
voting for on Election Day (if they vote at all). A write-invote
for Saddam perhaps?

According to Scholer, no decision was reached regarding future dorm distribution at his meeting with Redman and said that the new restrictions are not being perceived as an attack on the Review. "They affect the publications equally."

The restrictions are a blatant attack on the Review, since, but for the D, no other campus publication is so influential or widely read or has a similar impact on campus discourse. The Jacko and the Free Press, whatever their merits, just aren't comparable.

Today the Daily D ran an article that misrepresented my position on dorm deliveries. The article states, "Even so, he said that the Review would not conduct any more door-to-door operations." I never said anything that resembles this. The reporter asked me if I was not going to run another issue until a decision has been reached, to which I responded, "No." He then asked how we were going to deliver the issues, and I said that I had not decided.

The article states that I believe "the new restrictions are not being perceived as an attack on the Review." This is not what I was asked. The reporter asked me if I thought the administration was trying to limit the visibility of the Review.

The reporter appears to have attempted to draw conclusions from what I said to him, rather than report what I said. Note how often he tried to paraphrase me, rather than simply quoting me.

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

I've enclosed a sit-com pilot called "Who's My Baghdaddy?" Basically, it's about septuplets separated at birth and reunited sixty years later in a weird twist of fate (Let's just say it involves a couple of MiGs and some burkas). Each has a different personality trait (sarcastic, neurotic, wears an eye-patch) which both annoys and endears them to one another. Additionally each week's episode will find them in a wacky situation (delivering puppies from a pregnant dog, spending the rent money investing in a perpetual motion machine, war) in which they will work together to find a solution and teach an important moral lesson as well (community service is good, mustaches are cool, the U.S. is evil).

From the Daily Pennsylvanian, the University of Pennsylvania's official student newspaper:

We have a major national security problem on our hands. There's a man -- a deceitful man -- who has consistently lied to the world, jeopardizing the safety of Americans. As long as he stays in power, we are at a greater risk of terrorist attack. As long as he continues to disregard the truth, spouting lies into the air, this international bully will threaten our safety.

This man must be stopped: George Bush.

I now attend classes with people like this. At least Bush was good today.

The Daily Dartmouth noted today plans to curtail the increasingly mediocre Senior Symposium program. I think the decline of this program, and the fact that the College seeks to end it, indicates the great desire on the part of the administration to transform Dartmouth into something more akin to a Grafton County Community College.

The decline of the Senior Symposium can be attributed to a number of factors. First, the members of the Senior Class in charge of selecting the program tend to be more interested in consensus, or at least politically correct topics. Therefore, rather than inviting a prominent speaker who may be challenging to some, they seek to showcase the College's diversity or concern for issues like the environment. Second, the members of this committee tend to lack any vision of the wider role and any imagination of the potential Dartmouth students and alumni have in shaping such events. It is imperative that the College direct its resources to exposing the student body to ideas and issues beyond trendy identity politics, academic fads, and the like. The article noted that "famous" people such as Cornell West and Sheryl Crow have come to the College under other auspices. However, I question whether Kenneth Montgomery really intended for his endowment to sponsor pop musicians such as Ms. Crow.

The origins of the Senior Symposium are to be found in the policy of President Dickey of requiring seniors to attend a series of lectures on world events. However, like the recent Commencement speakers, Dartmouth has done well in squandering its stature and prestige and insuring the emerging classes of Dartmouth men and women will be ill-equipped for the challenges ahead.

Finally, and most puzzling, who would take the time to review Fleishmann's vodka at great length? An excerpt:

Even though we're late starters in the [vodka distilling] game, America has some strong representation, Skyy and Teton Glacier to name two. And then there are the black sheep of the vodka family, those brands that completely abandon quality for the allure of low pricing, and that's where products like Everclear and Fleischmann�s fit in, the drinks of choice for bag people and those who don't know any better.

Of course, apparently, not all people feel that way, according to the Fleishmann family:

Fleischmann's Vodka is a member of the Fleischmann's Family of products, a name that has represented quality since 1870. Attractively priced, Fleischmann's Vodka is a necessary addition for both on and off premise establishments. #1 in Wisconsin.

Monday, October 21, 2002

The New Hampshire State Liquor Commission actually publishes the 50 most commonly bought bottles of booze. Sorry, Gorsche, but Rebel Yell Bourbon doesn't make the list. An extra-classy handle of Zhenka vodka tops the list, while Beam comes in at 13th and Jack is a measly 16th.

It is forbidden to use the DU [Democratic Underground] message board in an effort to make our members withhold their precious votes from the Democratic Party, which is the only organization capable of stopping the Republican onslaught.

It is forbidden to use the DU message board to organize protests or other actions against members of the Democratic Party.

If the administrators of DU decide that the rhetoric of your posts would be more appropriate on Free Republic than on DU, then you are going to get banned."

Wednesday, October 16, 2002

In response to Adil W. Ahmad's letter of October 16th ("Expand the Definition"), I wish to point out that Mr. Ahmad's letter, by not mentioning violence against women, bias in the media, and the theft of license plates (which I understand to be a problem on campus), not only condones these very activities, but encourages and invites their practice.

Tuesday, October 15, 2002

Last month, the College released a beta Blitzmail client for OS X (download it from here).

Disappointingly, the software is an update ("Carbonized," for those in the know) of the 2.5.3 Blitzmail client, the code base of which stretches back to 1987. Blitzmail for Mac has never been a particularly robust application and, so far as I can tell, the only advantage of the OS X client is that, when it crashes and hangs, the entire computer isn't frozen.

Blitzmail itself, as a platform, is great for a number of reasons, including its tight integration with the Dartmouth Name Directory (and the easy addressing and lookup capabilities that come with it), continuous messaging (i.e., in some ways it's more like a instant messaging client than a POP or IMAP mail client), folder support (which predates IMAP), fast POP support, reliability (due to the sometimes heroic efforts of Kiewit staff), and ubiquity. All of which make the lack of a dependable, upgradable, feature-rich client more maddening.

To be fair, the current release of the OS X client is a beta, and, no doubt (I hope) many of these stability problems will be fixed by the time a final version is released (the timetable for such a release has not been made public).

But I still wonder if the Blitzmail development team didn't take the wrong approach. OS X includes with it a robust and rapid development environment called Cocoa. Cocoa applications automatically inherit the benefits of application services, like spell-checking and text-summarizing, and other OS X features, like antialiased fonts and framework-based customization (e.g., other Blitzmail sites could retool the client easily). Rewritten using the Cocoa framework, Blitzmail could lose its single window focus (ever notice that when a progress bar is on-screen all other windows are inoperable), non-standard help and dialogue boxes, and frequent crashes (building on tried, tested, and supplier-maintained frameworks and objects is inherantly more robust than a muddle of cross-platform ported code). A new and maintainable codebase could finally allow Blitzmail to evolve into a fully-featured client: Cocoa Blitzmail could easily gain HTML or rich-text support (through Apple's renderers), local message archiving, and a number of other, easily-added features.

Sunday, October 13, 2002

The former President of South Africa had this to say about the US attacking Iraq: "No country, however powerful it may be, is entitled to act outside the UN. When UN secretaries-general were white we never had the question of any country ignoring the United Nations, but now that we have got black secretaries-general like Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan certain countries that believe in white supremacy are ignoring the UN for racist reasons."

Vassilia Binensztok's article, as it was submitted to the Daily Dartmouth and prior to editing, can be read here.

Rumor has it that Binensztok will explain everything in a forthcoming article for the Free Press, but, as I've written before, though Binensztok was clearly wronged by the Daily Dartmouth's editors, the editors' real responsibility is to their audience and sources, whom they have undeniably and inexcusably wronged. Apology, which is to be expected, must be accompanied by action.

Saturday, October 12, 2002

Chien Wen Kung calls for the Daily Dartmouth to explain its editorial butchering and botching of an article written by a contributor who has since been fired (see that contributor's response to the edited article here).

There are two separate issues here. The first concerns editorial supremacy: the Daily Dartmouth's editors have a right to edit, as they see fit, any copy submitted to them. Implicitly, this is a vital part of the editor/reporter relationship. Owing to publication deadlines and editorial process, the reporter might not always or ever be contacted about changes made to his or her piece. The Daily Dartmouth's editors owe no one an explanation for any changes they may have made to the original article as submitted by the reporter.

The second issue is one of editorial responsibility. The Daily Dartmouth has clearly erred by publishing an article that was shoddily researched and written. In all likelihood, one or more sources were misquoted. This is, simply, inexcusable. That the unedited article contained such errors or, even worse, that they were actually added by editors highlights the failings of the Daily Dartmouth's editorial process. Misquotings and factual inaccuracies have been plenty in the pages of the Daily Dartmouth of late, and corrections few. Put simply, that's no way to run a newspaper, and the Daily Dartmouth owes its readership (and those misquoted) an explanation of how this was allowed to occur and what steps will be taken to restore the Daily Dartmouth's trustworthiness from the depths to which it has fallen.

Most likely, the editorial board has simply been playing fast and loose with its fact- and quote-checking, a lapse caused by lazy staff and looming deadlines. When it is determined who failed to put a hold on this article, those persons should be fired for neglecting their basic editorial duties. It may be well and good for the editorial board to persist in firing its reporters and cartoonists over trivialities and misunderstandings, but, when a news source's tarnished credibility is on the line, those with ultimate responsibility, the editors, must own up to their failings.

Friday, October 11, 2002

Hey Talc, you notice the unicwash.org email address that you're supposed to forward that to?

From The UN Information Centre's website: "Note: We have learned that there is a new petition circulating that claims to have been started by our office -- we have not, nor have we ever, initiated any petition. "

(The following notice, concerning this article, has been spotted on campus bulletin boards and was retyped verbatim)

"The following is a statement concerning a student's right to his or her own writing - A statement about a human crime committed by the editors of The Dartmouth newspaper - A statement about journalistic integrity and the public's right to read completely objective factual articles.

"On Tuesday, October 8, The Dartmouth published an article researched and originally written by this writer, Vassilia Binensztok. The article, entitled "Wright won't sign tolerance petition," concerns a statement initiated by former Dartmouth College president James O. Freedmen [sic]...

"As I wrote it, the article covered both sides of the story -- objectively covering the issues at hand, presenting the information clearly and letting the reader decide his own opinion.

"The editors of The Dartmouth COMPLETELY RE-WROTE the article that I had written, changing the wording and added complete paragraphs without EVER consulting me..."

This was sent out by a professor, Ifi Amadiume of the Religion Department, to a recipient list of professors AND two classes worth of students.

11 Oct 2002 12:55:33 EDT
Mourn the Victims.
Stand for Peace.
Islam is not the Enemy.
War is NOT the Answer.
Today we are at a point of imbalance in the world and are moving
toward what may be the beginning of a THIRD WORLD WAR. If you are against
this possibility, the UN is gathering signatures in an effort to avoid a
tragic world event.

An article in today's D, reports that administrators are closely considering serious cuts to Dartmouth�s library system, including significant changes and/or closings of Sherman Arts Library and Sanborn Library, which many consider jewels of �Old Dartmouth,� especially when compared to the sterile Berry Library.

Due to loss on endowment returns, cuts to Dartmouth�s operating budget are a must, but shouldn�t other options be explored before shutting down the very aspects of the College which make it unique and desirable? During my tenure at the College, hundreds of thousands of dollars were wasted on items not even remotely connected to the academic mission of the College. Among these expenditures: bringing fifty plus cable TV channels to every single dorm room, adding two superflous televisions to a single lounge in the Collis Center (one of which is a plasma flat screen, always on mute) and bringing Dartmouth its first alcohol- (and student-) free nightclub, Poison Ivy. Perhaps if during the boom years of endowment returns, the College had stockpiled returns instead of increasing budget allocations to non-academic programs, Sanborn and Sherman would not be at risk of closure today. But don�t worry students, if those libraries are closed, just pack up your literature and art history readings and head over to Collis, perhaps Friends is playing on three big screens.

Dartmouth's library system is the heart of its campus, both physically, procedurally, and academically. The librarians at Sherman are specialists and, as such, fluent with a number of texts and indices specific to art and art history that are all but unknown to general reference librarians. Students and faculty in the arts, art history, history, and anthropology (not to mention students with an extracurricular interest in art history) will suffer for this change, if it is implemented.

Thursday, October 10, 2002

Even more influential than US News' rankings, Seventeen listed Dartmouth as the 42nd "coolest" college in the country. That's,um, like, the best, you know?
I'm lost as to how MIT could be rated cooler than Dartmouth.

[Note: I don't read Seventeen, I just found this elsewhere. Honestly.]

Wednesday, October 09, 2002

Tuesday, October 08, 2002

In an article in today's D, Al Nur (a Muslim student group) advisor Amin Plaisted is quoted describing a petition signed by many college presidents against anti-semitic hatred and intimidation thusly:

It would seem to be a petition that encourages and invites exactly what it claims should stop, perhaps a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Had Mr. Plaisted actually read the petition, he would know that it seems nothing like his inept characterization.

The petition declares that "intimidation and hatred" do not "have any place on university campuses" and that "death threats and threats of violence," the destruction and defacement of Jewish students' property, and "libelous information or images" will "not be tolerated on campuses." To say that the petition "encourages and invites" these behaviors, as Mr. Plaisted does, isn't just misleading; it's absolutely unfounded.

Here's an article from the D on college professors and a petition to denounce "threats, taunts, and intimidation" in debates. Apparently, dissent is appearing in the two-headed monster of Jim Wright and James Freedman -- Freedman engineered the petition, and Wright refuses to sign it. Because Wright has found a new respect for free speech and concedes that the price is oftentimes unpleasant speech? Alas, no. He's worried because the petition only mentions Jewish kids, and what about those poor Muslims? He would willingly sign it, if only itall of the Left's favorite groups, and not just Jews!

Watching lefties try to outflank each other in lefty nonsense is pretty entertaining, however.

I must disagree with the list of Dartmouth's Worst Professors. While on the whole, the list seems fairly accurate, there is one professor who does not belong on that list. Marlene Heck is one of the best professors at Dartmouth and one of my favorite professors. Her lectures were, and still are, extremely interesting and I will never forget how much I learned the term I had a class with her.

Sunday, October 06, 2002

- Newswire: The latest Dartmouth news from all over the place, updated every half hour. This is a test version, but it should work. Once the bugs are ironed out, I may put the headlines in as a third column on the main Dartlog page.

- Search: Finally, you can search past Dartlog postings using the search box over in the lefthand column...except it doesn't work every time because Google hasn't rolled out its October update on all of their servers (Dartlog archives were regenerated this past month to make them Google-friendly...like you care). There is a "plan b" search solution, but it doesn't work as well as Google.

Also, you can now sign up to receive Dartmouth Review headlines and article summaries in your email inbox every time a new issue is put online (once a week? once a month? It's up to Larry). Just click here.

Columbia's new president, Lee C. Bollinger, according to the New York Times today, "used his inauguration as president of Columbia University yesterday to reassert the value of affirmative action in college admissions, to speak of Columbia's need to expand physically and to press for Columbia's greater engagement with the local community and the world." Keep in mind that Bollinger was also the president of the University of Michigan "when it became the target of two lawsuits challenging its affirmative action policies."

Wednesday, October 02, 2002

Tuesday, October 01, 2002

It seems the fine folks at Dartmouth's Women's Resource Center are up to their prurient tricks again. This "uncensored" (ahem) event discussed such intellectually involved topics as the "top three unusual places to kiss a woman." (For the curious, they are: behind the knee, along the ribs, and inside the upper arm. What's the methodology here?)

In related news, Dartmouth's tuition costs rose 4.5% this year. The University cited economic difficulties and budget cuts as the cause. Here's a suggestion: instead of hiking tuition by over $1500 per student, why don't we try cutting back on, I dunno, seminars on "finding the G-spot." Hmmm?